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My 2 Cents: Jump starting All-Star Classic

The lawn tractor's engine growled some, but cut off before firing completely. Outside our shed doors, our dog Maggie paced, excited to help with the season's first mowing.

I tried turning the engine over once more before accepting that no grass was going to be cut without a little extra work. It didn't.

A quick run to the garage, yielded a set of jumper cables and my car.

A few moments later, I gave the tractor another turn and the engine sprang to life. It hummed perfectly for the rest of the afternoon.

For those of you impressed, don't be. That's pretty much the extent of my abilities when it comes to troubleshooting mechanical problems. My wife will attest to that.

I bring this up not to brag about being able to get a lawn tractor running, but because I flipped over the calendar also this week to do some planning, and I felt like it was time to hook up the jumper cables to the old sports department.

Like the lawn tractor, our engine has sputtered a little this spring mainly thanks to a weather pattern that has wiped out large portions of the slate.

With May approaching faster than a sprinter to the finish line, we are only 2 weeks away from beginning the postseason for girls track and small school baseball and softball.

Hopefully, the skies stay blue over the next couple weeks so that area teams can tune their own engines up for the regional and sectional slates.

The other event hovering in the distance is the annual SVM All-Star Basketball Classic.

We have secured the usual location at Sauk Valley Community College for Thursday, June 20.

Once again, we here at SVM, are looking to put a charge into the annual event. We have some ideas, and hopefully, some of you out there do to.

One thing that is already added is concessions. Sauk Valley Community College will be providing those, with the proceeds going to he S.V.C.C. scholarship fund.

Sauk Valley's mascot Sammy has also promised to put in an appearance.

The great thing about the All-Star game is that it gives us a chance to say farewell to some of the area's most talented kids.

In that vein, we thought it'd be great if we could get a few more involved in the festivities.

We are looking to add an All-Star cheerleading squad and an All-Star pep band, both made up from graduating seniors from around the area.

We have already secured a cheerleading coach and a band director to help us with these endeavors.

If you are senior involved in either activity, please contact my colleague Christopher Heimerman (His information can be found in our contact box on B2 or B3). He's taking on the responsibility of organizing these squads.

Of course none of this happens without sponsors. I'll be knocking on some doors this week of community organizations and businesses to see if they are interested in helping out.

If you want to, just send me a line, and we'll talk the nuts and bolts of sponsorship.

The goal for me, just like with jumping the tractor, is to put as much energy into this event as possible so that it runs better than ever.